The panel mount receptacles are used on a power side of a circuit for connection to a portable cable. The panel mount receptacles are used in various industrial applications, for example, electrical connectors are used for connecting electrical elements used for continuous transmission of power. Typical applications are the transmission of power from generator sets to switchgear or Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCR) controls, from the control house to the traction motors, mud pumps, draw works, rotary tables, cement pumps and top drives via connectors. Generally, the traditional design of the panel mount receptacle is such that the electrical contacts are shrouded by rubber insulators. The male receptacle includes a conductive male contact pin shrouded by a rubber insulator body, wherein the rubber insulator body is integrally formed on the conductive male contact pin and a female receptacle includes a conductive female contact sleeve shrouded by a rubber insulator body and receptacle housing, wherein the insulator body is integrally formed on the conductive female contact sleeve. More specifically, the male receptacle includes a conductive male pin contact at a front and the base portion for electrical wire termination or connection, with an insulated cover body integrally formed over the conductive male pin contact. The female receptacle includes a conductive female sleeve contact at a front and the base portion for electrical wire termination or connection, with an insulated cover body integrally formed on the conductive female sleeve contact. The male panel mount receptacles are used on the power side of the circuits for connection to cable mount female plugs. The female panel mount receptacles are used on the machine or motor side of the circuit for connection to cable mounted male plugs. More specifically, the electrical connector assembly is used for connecting an electrical cable on a machine side to a fixed mating connector on a panel side. Certain electrical connectors are configured specifically to cater to the drilling rig industry. These connectors, particularly, single pole electrical connectors are configured for applications where the connectors are required to operate in the most extreme service conditions and are subjected to very high currents in excess of 1,000 Amps.
The field assembly and the installation of many inland drilling rigs have led to widespread use of a single pole electrical connector assembly that can be prepared in the field. These connector assemblies may take different forms, including a pin and collet style connector assembly or a plug and receptacle type connector assembly. One preferred configuration, particularly, the plug and the receptacle type connector assembly include a panel mount and cable-end connectors connected with male or female connector sub-assemblies. The male and female connector sub-assemblies of the conventional plug and receptacle type connector assembly includes overmolding of the insulator body over the engaging electrical contact elements, particularly, over the conductive male pin contact and the conductive female sleeve contact of the respective male connector sub-assembly and the female connector sub-assembly. In case of the conventional connector assembly, the overmolding of the insulator body over the conductive male pin contact and the conductive female sleeve contact are integrally configured thereon, and as such there is no chance of customization of the conductive male pin contact and the conductive female sleeve contact.
The panel mount receptacle has different configurations and may vary based on termination style single or double hole, type of cable sizes to be used, and color coding to prevent cross polarization and male or female connector. Due to this inherent nature of the above requirements, the manufacturer needs to keep an inventory of approximately 160 different types of engaging copper connector elements, male or female connector sub-assemblies, particularly, 160 different types of panel mount receptacles are required to be maintained and the manufacturer needs to maintain 160 different types of the panel mount receptacles in the inventory in order to serve a particular customer order. The prior art receptacle has a disadvantage of requiring a supplier to maintain a huge inventory of engaging copper connector elements. However, with such varying customer requirements, a large inventory of different elements, particularly, different configurations of conductive male pin contacts and the conductive female sleeve contacts of the panel mount receptacle connector assembly is difficult to maintain.
Accordingly, there is a need for a customizable panel mount receptacle that can be customized based on customer requirement while still not requiring a large inventory of the panel mount receptacle.